Siraj Wahhaj

Siraj Wahhaj (11 March 1950-) was the imam of the al-Taqwa Mosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).

Biography
Jeffrey Kearse was born on 11 March 1950 in Brooklyn, New York City to a Baptist family, and he went to Protestant church religiously and became a Sunday school teacher. While playing basketball on a scholarship in New York University, he met a fellow player who was affiliated with the Nation of Islam, and the teammate convinced him to convert to Islam in 1969, making his new name "Sira Wahhaj". He converted at the height of Louis Farrakhan's anti-Malcolm X rhetoric, and Wahhaj left the NOI on Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, as he did not agree with Warith Deen Mohammed's conversion to an orthodox Islam. Wahhaj studied at the Umm al-Qura University in Mecca in 1978, and he taught Islamic studies at Howard University back in the United States. In 1981, he started the Masjid ul-Taqwa mosque in his friend's Brooklyn apartment, starting out with only 25 people. However, the community grew rapidly, and in 1988 he led his community in an anti-drug patrol, closing 15 drug houses after a 40-day stakeout, earning him the praise of the media and NYPD. In 1997, he became Vice-President of the Islamic Society of North America, and he became a prolific speaker and activist. He encouraged Muslims to join good and forbid evil, fear God, practice regular charity, stay away from drugs, abstain from pre-marital relationships, and preached other views.